Communication Protocols

At Three Rivers Academy we value and encourage open and effective communication between the school and parents/carers to support our students. We endeavour to deal with any queries or concerns as quickly and effectively as possible.

Please be assured that we take all concerns and queries seriously and they are always followed up, however, please allow time for this to happen.

School life is particularly busy and often immediate contact with a member of staff is not possible. Our teaching staff have teaching commitments and other commitments throughout the school day, including break/lunch duties, after-school activities, working with students, parent consultation evenings, supervising detentions or attending professional development sessions. During lesson time teaching staff are asked not to access their emails so that they can give full attention to their class. Non-teaching staff also have commitments throughout the day which makes it very difficult to answer queries immediately.

Our school website holds information on term dates, the school calendar, policies, and other useful guidance, so please refer to our website in the first instance when seeking information. Please let us know if there is information that is difficult to find by emailing info@threerivers.thpt.org.uk.

Who to Contact?

In most cases, the tutor should be contacted in the first instance. Our Year Leaders and Year Managers oversee up to 300 students and will need to prioritise enquiries and concerns. A Year Leader typically teaches 3 or 4 lessons a day and may be unable to check their inbox or voicemail for several hours.

If the concern is regarding a particular subject rather than a pastoral issue (including queries about homework), please contact the Head of Department or Head of Faculty who will ensure your concern is followed up. Please refrain from contacting the Year Leader, if your concern is subject specific, as they will often be unable to assist and will instead refer it to the relevant Head of Faculty.

Phone Protocols

Please contact the school by telephone only where a matter is urgent. Urgent matters are as follows:

• Matters relating to the safeguarding of a child
• Medical information about your child
• Concern about your child’s wellbeing
• Messages about a change in arrangements for picking your child up from school

If our office staff are unable to assist you, they will pass your message to the most appropriate colleague. If the person you need to speak to is unavailable, they will contact you at the earliest opportunity.

Staff will aim to reply to phone calls within 2 working days. However, some queries will require staff to gather information before they can reply appropriately; when this is the case, we will acknowledge that your phone call has been received and indicate when an informed response will be sent.

Once you have raised a concern over the phone, please do not phone back regarding the same concern. Please trust that your message will have been passed on and our staff are prioritising communication. If you have left a message on our voicemail, there is no need to call us back regarding the same issue.

Email Protocols

Please email us regarding anything non-urgent. This includes matters where your child might be upset about a situation but is not in danger.

Staff will aim to reply to parent emails within 2 working days. However, some queries will require staff to gather information before they can reply appropriately; when this is the case, we will acknowledge that your email has been received and indicate when an informed response will be sent.

Emails should be polite and respectful. Staff will not respond to offensive or abusive communication. These will be forwarded to a member of the Senior Leadership Team who will take appropriate action.

A reminder that all email addresses follow this format:   Name.Surname@threerivers.thpt.org.uk 

A full staff list with roles and responsibilities can be found here: https://www.threeriversacademy.org/Staff-list/

If you are unsure who to contact, please email info@threerivers.thpt.org.uk so that our office staff can direct your query to the most appropriate person.

Meetings

Parent meetings with staff are by appointment only and normally require at least 2 working days’ notice due to teaching and other commitments.

Please note that apart from exceptional circumstances (e.g. Safeguarding matter where a child is in immediate danger), we are unable to meet with visitors who arrive at school without a pre-booked appointment and you will be turned away.

We thank you for our co-operation.